The outside corner of the Avon house in 2019, its brick reading as one buff and tan range where it meets white lap siding
Case File 300

Staining Brick and Mortar Into Range on an Avon Home

Some of the brick on this house stood out from the range around it. The mason on the job had the brick and mortar stained to bring those units back in. It was photographed again twelve years later and certified then.

Case No. 300
Structure House, brick and lap siding
Location Avon, Indiana
Stained 2007
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 12 years, Silver level

2007

  1. An outside brick corner beside a shuttered window in 2007, several units across the wall carrying a blue-grey mottle that stands out from the buff and tan around them Before, 2007 View this photo larger
  2. The same corner in 2007 after staining, the mottled units brought into the buff, tan and grey range of the wall around them After, 2007 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Nothing had failed and nothing was dirty. Scattered units carried a blue-grey mottle across the face, and on a wall that is otherwise buff and tan the eye goes straight to them. The file records the issue in its own words: there were areas of brick that stood out and did not match the rest of the range.

The mason hired the work, not the homeowner.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand. The whole account of the work on the form is six words: we stained the brick and mortar. Both, because at arm's length the joints are as much of the color you see as the brick is.

2019, twelve years on

  1. The same outside corner in 2019, the brick reading as one buff and tan range where it meets white lap siding, with the certification stamp at the lower right 12 Years After View this photo larger

What twelve years prove

Same corner, same shuttered window, same courses. The units that stood out are sitting inside the range of the ones around them. On the certification scale twelve years is Silver, which starts at ten. As of 2026 the work is nineteen years old, and the 2019 certification is the most recent record on it.

The signed file

Every certified job gets the same form, signed on the day someone goes back to the building. This is the one for case 300, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

Scan of the case study form for case 300, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
Avon, IN Residence (2007)
Level
Silver. The scale runs Bronze at seven to nine years, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
Mason or contractor
Reason for project
Other
Issues
"There were areas of brick that stood out and did not match the rest of the range."
What was corrected
"We stained the brick and mortar."
Storyline
"This job was small but important. We recommend whenever building an addition look for brick that matches the size and texture of the old brick and call us for a color match. We can change the color of porous masonry but we cannot change size or texture."
Address
"Permission needed to release address"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
More Case Studies See all case studies →
The front of the house in 2019 across the lawn, brick with cast stone lintels, an oval window over the columned porch, the wall reading as one red and brown range

Matching Off Range Brick on a Michigan Home with Arched Bays
The front of the two-story brick house in 2019, jack arches over every window on both floors and a columned entry porch at the center.

Staining the Jack Arches on a New Albany Home
The front of the Pennsylvania house from the lawn in 2019, its brick an even red and salmon range across both storeys under the twin front gables.

Bringing Dark Red Brick to a Soft Salmon in Pennsylvania

Your Project, Documented for Decades

Every job we stain enters the same discipline: photographed, revisited, re-photographed.

Request a Quote
Call Us Request a Quote